It is common practice to provide a DC to DC converter, such as a pulse width modulated chopper to convert a single phase AC power supply into a DC current or voltage for electric arc welding or for electric plasma cutting. Such power supplies are specially designed for 60 Hz 110 volt or 220 volt inputs. As the input voltage changes and the frequency changes, such power supplies experience a power factor of less than 90% and a THD exceeding industrial equipment regulations such as IEC-1003. Consequently, it is desirable for inverters, such as down choppers when used in welding machines, to be constructed for increasing the power factor and/or minimizing the THD. In addition, it is desirable that the power supply accept input voltages of 200-600 VAC at frequencies of 50 Hz, 60 Hz or other variations. It has been suggested that a power supply accomplishing these objectives could be provided by a dual stage power supply including a first stage inverter with an active, switching type power factor correcting circuit to provide controlled DC input to a second stage inverter. This two inverter concept for correcting the power factor in an electric arc welder of the down chopper type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,991,169 filed by assignee of this application on Mar. 16, 1998 and entitled Arc Welding Power Supply. This patent is incorporated by reference herein as background information even though it is not prior art. The use of a two inverter stage power supply for providing power factor corrections at the same time as controlling the DC voltage at the output of the welder is complicated and expensive. It is desirable to have an inexpensive power supply driven by an AC input voltage which can range between 200-600 volts AC with a power factor greater than 0.95 with a controlled DC output voltage.